Trade Secretary Fred Pascual on Monday once again reiterated the need for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to be ratified by the Senate lawmakers.

He stressed that the RCEP is a very important trade agreement that is crucial in enhancing the openness of the business environment in the country.

"This is a comprehensive agreement that involves rules and disciplines or policies to establish a conducive environment for businesses and investors," Pascual pointed out.

"These rules and policies are important because they provide stability in the business environment," Pascual stressed during the Senate committee on foreign relations hearing on the RCEP agreement on 12 December.

"If we examine the RCEP agreement, more than talking about lowering tariff rates, the agreement covers, among others, customs procedures, trade facilitation, standards, technical regulations and conformity procedures, trade remedies, investments, services, e-commerce, competition, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and even economic and technical cooperation.

"This means that in those areas covered by the RCEP agreement, businesses and investors can rely on and expect that certain policies will be adopted and implemented in the RCEP region with a certain degree of uniformity," Pascual added.

The trade and industry secretary also addressed the concerns raised on RCEP further opening the Philippine market, which is causing fears given the potential surge of imports negatively affecting local producers.

Earlier, Pascual said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is fully backing the RCEP, and has urged that it be ratified as soon as possible.